Are Black Hispanics Black or Hispanic?: Understanding disparities at the intersection of race and ethnicity

In the United States, Blacks and Hispanics have a poorer health profile when compared to Whites. However, within minority groups, Hispanics have more favorable health outcomes than Blacks, which is somewhat paradoxical because Hispanics tend to have higher rates of poverty, fewer years of education, and less access to health care services. The cause of this inconsistency is unknown as is information about the health profile of a population at the intersection of Blacks and Hispanics, Black Hispanics. We examined disparities in health related characteristics among 1050 Black Hispanics, 36277 non-Hispanic Blacks, and 45917 non-Black Hispanics to determine whether Black Hispanics' health status resembles Blacks or Hispanics. Using data from the National Health Interview Survey 2000-2007, we compared age-adjusted prevalence rates of Black Hispanics to Blacks and Hispanics in three domains: health services (insurance status, usual source of care, and whether a participant seen a doctor in 12 months), health status (hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, and fair/poor rated health), and health behaviors (smoking and drinking status, overweight, and obesity). To determine which group Black Hispanics resembled a simple tally count was performed within each of these three domains, health status, health behaviors and health services. For the health services and health status domains, Black Hispanics did not resemble Blacks or Hispanics. However Black Hispanics did resemble Hispanics with regard to their health behaviors. Black Hispanics may be a unique group, who depending on the outcome, may not respond to health interventions tailed for Black Americans or Hispanic/Latinos.